Beverage dispensing system



Nov. 30, 1965 'r. PORTER, JNR., 3,220,608

BEVERAGE DISPENSING SYSTEM Fl d March 5. 1964 1 e 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR THOMAS PORTER, .TNR. BY

ATTORNEY Nov. 30, 1965 T. PORTER, JNR., 3,220,608

BEVERAGE DISPENSING SYSTEM Filed March 5, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Y THOMAS PORTER, J'NR.

United States Patent 3,220,608 BEVERAGE DEPENSING SYSTEM Thomas Porter, Jinn, Manchester, England, assignor to Porter-Lancastrian Limited, Bolton, England Filed Mar. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 348,977 6 Claims. (Cl. 222-63) This invention is concerned with the delivery in measured quantities of carbonated or otherwise gasified liquid and has as its main application the delivering of metered amounts of carbonated beverages, for example draught beer.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide draught liquor which is in correct condition so far as CO content, temperature, sparkle and purity are concerned and, in fact, to supply on demand liquor which as nearly as possible is in the condition in which it left the brewery. Other objects of the invention are to preventdilution and/or contamination of the stored liquor (as by the return to it of spillage), to avoid undue frothing or fobbing, to avoid spillage without calling for any special care or skill in dispensing, and to ensure an exact measurement (Within the tolerances allowed by law) of the amount dispensed regardless of any head that may form during dispensing. v

The invention therefore provides conditions of maximum hygiene, the liquor to be delivered being inaccessible until discharged at the bar; it provides for the minimum of effort on the part of the barman in drawing the liquor from the bulk, the pressure for lifting the liquor being provided otherwise than by the barman himself; it eliminates all opportunity for a landlord or attendant at a hotel or club to dilute the liquor before delivery, either by adding water to the bulk or by the return to the bulk of drippings and spillings at the bar, it allows of the correct temperature and CO content in the dispensed liquor and it allows of the required accurate measurement irrespective of the amount of head so that no spilling at the dispenser takes place. A further advantage of the invention is that there is less deposit on the inner wall of the conduits used and, further, cleaning of the conduits is made extremely simple and eflicient.

It is a common practice nowadays to store bulk beverage in a tank, usually (but not always) in the lower part of a building, with the interior of the tank subjected to a gas pressure, for example CO bottles, or the like. Usually also, such pressurised tanks are refrigerated so as to maintain the contents at a pre-determined pressure temperature ratio, which inter alia determines the degree of CO absorption by the liquid. However, if the dispenser at the bar is considerably higher than the storage tank, for example on a second or even higher floor in the building, it has been necessary hitherto, in order to have a suificient pressure head to deliver the liquid at the bar, to increase the gas pressure in the interior of the tank. The drawback to this is that the increased pressure in the tank involves the absorption of undue amounts of CO into the liquid so that, when the liquid is dispensed it froths excessively, which is a nuisance causing spillage and interfering with accurate measurement. The present invention eliminates this nuisance entirely.

In the known arrangements, in order to have a reasonable rate of flow when the liquid is being dispnsed, conduits of relatively large bore have been used. If, however, there is long line of conduit between the storage tank and the bar or other point of delivery, there is inevitably a large quantity of liquid in the line and, if the rate of dispensing is slow, say during a slack period at the bar, the liquid in the line becomes warmed by natural heat intake, thereby nullifying the refrigeration which took place in the tank, and also driving some of the CO 3,220,608 Patented Nov. 30, 1965 out of solution. The present invention eliminates this diiiiculty also, and makes it possible to deliver metered quantities of a refrigerated beverage with the desired accuracy at any point, regardless of the height above or below the storage tank, without any of the customary diificulties of frothing, spilling and increase of temperature.

The present invention provides a system for the supply from bulk of a carbonated beverage at a required temperature, with a required CO content and with exact measurement (subject to permitted tolerances), which comprises a closed refrigerated storage vessel, an elec trically-controlled metering pump, means for applying a gas pressure above the liquid in the vessel sufiicient to feed liquid from the vessel to the pump and to maintain a substantially constant pressure head in the vessel as the liquor is withdrawn therefrom by the pump, an electrically-operated or fluid-operated dispense tap, smallbore conduits between the pump and such tap, and control circuitry whereby (a) the opening of the tap is accompanied by the operation of the pump to deliver a predetermined measured quantity of liquor to the tap, (b) after the termination of delivery the pump is prepared for a second delivery and (c) such second delivery cannot be commenced until such preparation has been completed.

In the preferred forms of the improved system, the pump is of the fill-and-discharge type with a flexible wall, filling being effected under the pressure in the storage vessel (for which reason the pump is located at substantially the same level as and close to the vessel), and discharge being effected under a gas pressure applied to such flexible wall, the admission of such gas to the pump being brought about by the operation of a control member which opening opens the dispense tap (or by the opening of the tap itself) and also exhausts the gas from the pump, coupled with closing of the tap, being brought about by the build up of gas pressure in the pump, or by the maximum deflection of the said flexible wall.

A convenient example of the improved system comprises the combination of a pump and control circuit as set forth in our co-pending application for patent Serial No. 349,032 filed March 3, 1964, a dispense tap of any suitable known kind, small bore conduits of say 7 or A" internal diameter, and a pressurised storage tank as described in the co-pending application for Patent 348,- 960 filed March 3, 1964. The invention may include the use of unmarked, over-size drinking vessels as set forth in the co-pending application 348,960.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 7

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout of an installation according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of one form of pump for use in the installation of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 illustrates the electric circuitry of the system.

As shown in FIG. 1, there is a refrigerated storage tank I mounted on supports 2 and having a discharge point to which is removably connected a header 4 having connections leading to a dispenser 6 at a bar counter 7. The tank 1 will be filled by removal of the header 4 and the attachment in its place of a union or coupling from a tanker vehicle or other source ofsupply.

A CO bottle 8 is shown having a conduit 9 connected at 10 to a conduit 11 from the top of the tank, the connection 10 being arranged at a level below the top of the tank so that no liquid can be entered into the tank whilst the conduits 9 and 11 are disconnected.

The header 4 has an outlet pipe 12 leading to a metering pump 13 which discharges via conduit 14 to the said dispenser 5. The pipe 14 is of small bore, say A or A so that the rate of flow of liquor through them will be relatively fast and thus prevent the accumulation of deposits in the conduits. The pipe 12, which may be of larger diameter, is kept as short as possible.

A representative type of pump is shown at 13 in FIG. 2. In a rigid container 21 the walls of which are separable at the flanges 22 for cleaning purposes, there is a diaphragm 23 of a size suflicient to lie against either of the interior faces of the Wall of the container 21 when the under pressure is at one side or the other. Diaphragm 21 divides the pump into a beverage chamber 24 and a gas chamber 25.

On the driven side 24 of the diaphragm 23 is the inlet pipe 12 from the storage supply vessel 1 and on the driving side 25 of the diaphragm is an inlet 28 from external power means 31 namely a source of pressure gas, either compressed air, compressed nitrogen or the like, this conduit including a three-way control valve 29. Also, on the first-named side of the diaphragm is the discharge conduit 14 leading to the normally-closed discharge outlet 6.

The arrangement is such that when the valve 32 of the outlet 6 is opened by any control or start device provided for the purpose, the control 29 is automatically put into a position where pressure gas from the conduit 28 passes into the right-hand side of the chamber 21 and thereby deflects the diaphragm 23 and expels the container contents at the other side of the diaphragm through the conduit 14 to the now open tap. A non-return valve 33 is provided in the inlet conduit 12, and there is a nonreturn valve 33 in the conduit 14 to hold any head of liquid there may be between the pump and the dispense outlet 6. Once this operation has started, no change can be made in the electrical circuit until the metering vessel is completely empty. When the diaphragm is fully deflected against the wall of the container it brings about the operation of a normally-closed switch 34. This, as explained below, breaks the circuit, closes the outlet valve 32 and returns the three-way valve 29 to a position, as at 30, which exhausts the driving side of the container 21, thereby allowing the pressure from the storage tank to refill the left side of the chamber. When the chamber is again completely full, contact is made at switch 34 and this brings the circuit back to its original condition. The diaphragm 23 has attached to it a spindle 35 on which are two adjustable collars 36, 37, to operate respectively the limit switches 34 and 34 and adapted when the gas compartment is quite empty (and the liquor compartment full) to close the switch 34 and to open the switch 34 when the liquor compartment is empty.

Referring now to FIG. 3, when the circuit is at rest, the relay 38 has its contacts 38 38 38 open. Contact 38 is a hold-on contact, contact 38 and a coil 39 are in the circuit of the tap valve 32, and contact 38 with coil 40 is in the circuit of the control valve 29. Upon the operation of a start switch 41 which may be at the tap valve 32 or in a coin-released means or elsewhere, relay 38 is energised and closes all its contacts. The energization of coil 39 opens the normally closed valve 32 of tap 6 and energizes the coil 40 of valve 29 to connect the external power means 31 with gas chamber 25 to deflect the diaphragm 23 and expel the contents of beverage chamber 24 from tap 6.

When the diaphragm 23 has been fully deflected, switch 34 is opened to release the relay 38 so that contacts 38 38 and 38 re-open. The coil 32 is thus de-energized to close dispense valve 32 and the coil 40 is de-energized to shift the valve 29 to exhaust. When the pump is again full of liquor, switch 34 is re-closed.

With an arrangement according to this invention the dispensed liquor can be free from sediment in many cases, an exact quantity is automatically determined, and it is an advantage of the system that a uniform aeration or sparkle is maintained in the liquor as there is no loss of aeration into the empty part of the container as the container empties. Friction losses in the conduit are overcome by the external power means 31 and as the capacity of the conduit is low there is little heat-intake during periods of no flow. Therate of flow through the small bore conduit 14 is relatively. fast and the liquor has a self-cleaning effect on the conduit walls, preventing sedimentation and yeast deposits etc. There is also a minimum of dripping at the dispenser point and there is no spilling at that point since an exact quantity is delivered and there is practically no physical effort required on the part of the barman.

For cleaning the conduits the pump may be connected to a liquid detergent supply, and the rapid flow of the detergent through the conduits, under the driving pressure of the pump cleans the conduit walls. Wash water may be driven through the conduits in a similar manner.

The improved system may include counting means or other indicating means, either at the pump or at the dispense point or elsewhere, for use in stocktaking and like purposes.

It is preferred to use a flat diaphragm and to have the delivery side of the pump of shallow concavity such that the diaphragm requires to be stretched somewhat in order to lie on the concave wall and fully evacuate that side of the pump.

What I claim is:

1. A beverage dispenser comprising:

a beverage dispensing tap having a coil actuated, normally closed valve;

a beverage container;

a pump having a diaphragm dividing the pump into a beverage chamber and a gas chamber;

mechanical means linked to said diaphragm and projecting outside said pump, and a pair of limit switches actuated by said means, each at an opposite end of the deflection stroke of said diaphragm;

conduit means, including one way valves, connecting said beverage container to said beverage chamber and said beverage chamber to said tap for unidirectional flow of said beverage to said tap;

external pressure means including a source of gas under pressure, an exhaust conduit means connecting with said. gas chamber and a coil actuated three way valve controlling the same, and

an electric control circuit including a source of current, the coils of said valves, said limit switches, a start switch and a holding relay; the closing of said start switch causing the opening of said dispense valve, the pressurization of said gas chamber, the delivery of a predetermined quantity of beverage from said beverage chamber to said tap, the refill of said beverage chamber and the prevention of a second delivery until said refill has been completed. 2. A beverage dispenser as specified in claim 1 wherein: said beverage container is refrigerated, said beverage is carbonated beer and the conduit means between said beverage chamber and said tap is of relatively small bore in the order of to whereby rate of delivery is fast, volume of beverage in said conduit is reduced, deposits on the walls of said conduit means are reduced and loss of carbonation and refrigeration are reduced.

3. A beverage dispenser as specified in claim 1;

wherein said mechanical means is a spindle having one end fixed to the centre of said diaphragm, thence projecting out of said pump and having two adjustable collars mounted on the projecting portion thereof, each for actuating one of said limit switches.

4. A beverage dispenser as specified in claim 1 wherein said beverage container includes supports for locating the same at substantially the level of said pump and said beverage is carbonated;

whereby a relatively low level of carbonation pressure in said container is sufficient to feed beverage to said beverage chamber and excessive carbonation pressure is not required to feed said beverage to a higher level.

5. A beverage dispenser as specified in claim 1 plus CO gas supply means detachably connected to the top of said beverage container, said means maintaining a constant, relatively low pressure within said container to avoid frothing of said beverage during dispensing while being sufiicient to feed said beverage to said beverage chamber.

6. A system for the supply from bulk of a carbonated beverage at a required temperature, with a required CO content and with exact measurement said system comprising:

a fill and discharge metering pump having a flexible Wall dividing the pump into a beverage chamber and a gas chamber;

a closed, refrigerated storage vessel having a conduit connected to said beverage chamber for conducting beverage thereto;

a C gas bottle having a conduit connected to the top of said vessel for maintaining a constant pressure head in said vessel just sufficient to feed beverage into said beverage chamber to fill the same;

a normally closed dispense tap connected by a small bore conduit to said beverage chamber;

one way valves in said conduits for preventing back flow therein;

external power means including a source of gas under pressure, said means including a gas conduit connected to said gas chamber, an exhaust and a three way valve controlling the same;

mechanical control means linked to said diaphragm and extending out of said pump and electrical flow control means external of said pump and actuated by said mechanical control means, and electric control circuitry including said electric flow control means, an electrically actuated valve in said tap, electric means actuating said three Way valve, 21 start switch and a source of current; whereby energization of said circuitry causes (a) the opening of the valve of said dispense tap and the operation of said pump to deliver the beverage in said beverage chamber to said tap (b) after the termination of the delivery thereof, the pump is prepared for a second delivery, and (e) such second delivery cannot be commenced until such preparation has been completed.

5/ 1949 France. 11/1954 France.

4/ 1940 Switzerland.

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Primary Examiner.

HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

1. A BEVERAGE DISPENSER COMPRISING: A BEVERAGE DISPENSING TAP HAVING A COIL ACTUATED, NORMALLY CLOSED VALVE; A BEVERAGE CONTAINER; A PUMP HAVING A DIAPHRAGM DIVIDING THE PUMP INTO A BEVERAGE CHAMBER AND A GAS CHAMBER; MECHANICAL MEANS LINKED TO SAID DIAPHRAGM AND PROJECTING OUTSIDE SAID PUMP, AND A PAIR OF LIMIT SWITCHES ACTUATED BY SAID MEANS, EACH AT AN OPPOSITE END OF THE DEFLECTION STROKE OF SAID DIAPHRAGM; CONDUIT MEANS, INCLUDING ONE WAY VALVES, CONNECTING SAID BEVERAGE CONTAINER TO SAID BEVERAGE CHAMBER AND SAID BEVERAGE CHAMBER TO SAID TAP FOR UNIDIRECTIONAL FLOW OF SAID BEVERAGE TO SAID TAP; EXTERNAL PRESSURE MEANS INCLUDING A SOURCE OF GAS UNDER PRESSURE, AN EXHAUST CONDUIT MEANS CONNECTING WITH SAID GAS CHAMBER AND A COIL ACTUATED THREE WAY VALVE CONTROLLING THE SAME, AND AN ELECTRIC CONTROL CIRCUIT INCLUDING A SOURCE OF CURRENT, THE COILS OF SAID VALVES, SAID LIMIT SWITCHES, A START SWITCH AND A HOLDING RELAY; 